Yesterday I had to give my presentation on my biofuels project. Unsurprisingly, the presentation side wasn't particularly difficult given the number of times I have presented, facilitated groups, run training and engaged in the art of public speaking in my former lives. Sometimes there are benefits to being the "mature age" student!
I'm going to go out on another limb here and suggest that most biofuels may not be the answer to the current fossil fuel dilemma. Oh the heresy!!
Part of my project discussed the energy lifecycle analysis of the biofuels - that is considering all the energy used to grow them - from clearance of the land, to preparation, planting, irrigation, fertiliser, harvest, transport and processing. A little bit of my agricultural past finally made a positive contribution to my studies!
The biofuel concept was a simple one - they should be carbon neutral because the combustion of a biofuel will emit the same amount of carbon dioxide that was sequestered by the plant in its lifetime and as long as plants still remain on earth, another plant should happily take up the same amount again creating a perfect carbon dioxide cycle. If only that was the case...
One of the most interesting articles I found during my research was a study completed by the Swiss looking at biofuels used in Switzerland (noting that many are imported). Their findings resonant with those of many other researchers, "In principle, each of the fuels examined (bioethanol, biomethanol, biodiesel and biogas) can be produced in an environmentally friendly way – it depends on what raw materials and production technologies are used".
Key impact areas include where land must be cleared or reclaimed (forest and swamps) to create arable land in the first place. Equally, energy crops that require intensive agricultural practices (fertiliser, pesticides, herbicides or anything else which gets you out on your presumably fossil fuel driven tractor) have much higher environmental impacts.
In general, biofuels made from waste materials tend to have the lowest impact. Often they would not have had a useful afterlife, ending up in landfills or being dumped out of sight and out of mind. Waste materials can include rubbish, sewerage and crop residue (straw, husks, bagasse [leftover sugar cane] and wood thinnings).
And all this before we even get into the food versus fuel debate...
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